Process for the purification of ethylene dichloride (edc), and process for the manufacture of vinyl chloride monomer (vcm) and of polyvinyl chloride (pvc)

Process for the purification of an EDC stream, comprising the steps of : eventually removing the lower boiling impurities from the EDC stream so as to generate a stream of EDC substantially free from lower boiling impurities; feeding this EDC stream to a heavy ends distillation column so as to get a top stream of substantially pure EDC and a bottom stream comprising higher boiling impurities with a low content of EDC, said heavy ends distillation column comprising an upper part and a lower part which may either be combined in a single column or may be 2 separate parts (columns) but with gas phase and liquid phase communication between them, and with a side reboiler at the bottom of the upper part.